Twice Upon a Time
by Kelonzi
Summary: Sequel to "Past Tension"... Gunn has another run-in with Ty which makes him reevaluate his life once again. Rating may be a big strong, but vampire attacks aren't exactly G territory. Enjoy!
1. Storytime

Twice Upon a Time  
Part 2 of "The Gunn Years"  
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~Author's Note~  
Picking up where I left off in "Past Tension", this story deals with some of Gunn and Company's experiences in LA. The characters you recognise are property of Joss Whedon, the other stuff I made up! This is story 2 in a (currently) 6 part series of stories. The first part is also on ff.net  
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"Tell me a story, Gunn." Alonna tugged at the sleeve of her brother's gray sweatshirt. She was eleven years old, always making a big fuss about being big enough to take care of herself now, but every now and then she would backslide into little girl mode and all that came along with it-- being tucked in at night, having a story told to her before nodding off to sleep. It wasn't that Charles Gunn minded, either. He felt most protective of her at these times. When those little chocolate brown eyes looked up at him, wide and searching for comfort, he could just feel the tension of the day melt and slip out of his body.  
  
"I've told ya every story I know, Lonna." He looked back at her teasingly with what he hoped were equally round and puppy-dog-like eyes.   
  
She shook her head stubbornly. "No way. I hear ya an' the others tellin' stories all the time. About them pretty girls ya see in the stores all the time. Tell me a story about one of your pretty girls!"  
  
Gunn's eyes went wide. Those 'stories' weren't exactly bedtime material. At all. They were more--- eeehhhh... "A story about a pretty girl, huh?" He twisted the question around a little into something which he could answer in a G-rated manner. "Alright."  
  
Alonna stood up suddenly. "Wait. Lemme get somethin' first." She scampered across the large warehouse the gang shared, stirring up little clouds of dust in her wake. It wasn't the most inviting place, but it had been home for the past three years. As long as it didn't collapse around them and the police didn't track them to it, the Miller Warehouse was as good a place as any to set up shop.  
  
Three years. Seems like yesterday that we was livin' in the Plummer Street Shelter an' Bullseye an' I--- He stopped. He couldn't go any farther into his memories of the past. The pain of loosing his best friend was too much. If he got to dwelling on it, he would start to cry, and no one could ever see him cry. Ty had seen the twelve year old Gunn cry, and in that moment, Gunn had given away any advantage he might have had over the pulseless monster. It showed weakness, and it showed that he could be beaten, prehaps not through physical attack, but through mental assault.  
  
Mercifully, his sister returned before Gunn could think any more about his momentary weakness those three years past. She was clutching a small teddy bear to her chest, it's fur matted down, and button eyes scratched into a mess of white lines. Still, it was her favorite childhood toy, and he wasn't about to tease her about it. Whatever it took to calm her down when things got rough was good enough for him. The bear didn't have a name, and was only a miniature sized brown teddy, but she loved the thing to death. "Couldn't go ta sleep without yer pal, eh?"  
  
"Nope. Now you'd better start with that story, Charles, or I'll tell the others that yer sweet on that Fuller gal that works at McDonald's." She stuck her tongue out playfully.  
  
"Well, once upon a time...."  
  
"All the good stories start with 'once upon a time'." She smiled encouragingly.  
  
"... there was this little girl who lived with 'er brother and 'is friends..."  
  
Alonna made a face. "This is soundin' familiar."  
  
Gunn only smiled and continued. "Ya see, they looked out for each other, an' the girl knew that nothin' would ever happen to her while her brother was watchin' out for her........"


	2. Quality Time in the Library

* * * * The Next Morning * * * *  
  
"Heads up!" A voice shattered the silence of the room like a baseball through a plate glass window. Which was a good analogy to use considering that the boy had entered the library through the large plate glass picture window to begin with. Dozens of readers glanced up from their books in irritation as a young black boy turned a sharp corner, beating a hasty retreat out of the Mythology section, heading at full tilt towards the card catalogue.  
  
Several bespecticaled patrons of the Hobson's Corner Public Library glared expectantly at the librarian on duty. Blushing furiously, the woman patted down her hair and clumped over in her pennyloafers. The boy ground to a hault at her feet and glanced up into her dissaproving glare.  
  
"Uh, sorry 'bout the books, Miss." He said breathlessly. "I just kinda--" His eyes went wide as hubcaps. "GET DOWN!"  
  
"What?" She began to turn in an attempt to discover what the boy was talking about. Before she could do so, however, the boy was on top of her, pressing her against the floor. "Young man!" She squalked and spluttered.  
  
"Shut up!" He snapped.  
  
Taken aback by his rude behavior, she struggled to free herself from his grip, one that was amazingly powerful for a boy of his age. If she were to guess, she'd imagine he was about 15 years of age. "Excuse me! Have you no respect for your elders?!"  
  
"Just listen to 'im!!" Another young man appeared out of the reference section, holding a weapon of some sort. "Ma'am." He added, almost as an afterthought.  
  
"I shall call the police and have you boys arrested!" The librarian continued to admonish the youths, despite the fact that they were no longer paying any attention to her. "Did you hear me?! I'll call the authorities!"  
  
One boy walked over to the broken window and began barricading the gaping hole with stacks of books, shelves, whatever could be best utilized as a blockage.  
  
Rolling her eyes, the librarian sighed. "That does very little good now. You've already made the hole you know. Plugging it up isn't going to help you."  
  
"She just doesn't know when ta shut 'er yap, does she?" Boy number two shoved a bookcase into position as he spoke.  
  
"Just push, Chain." The first was glancing out the gaping opening in the wall anxiously.  
  
"They couldn't 'ave followed us." The one who number one referred to as Chain replied. "Them bloodsucks got hung up over on Elm. They won't be around for awhile."  
  
Just then a loud rapping on the door drew everyone's attention.   
  
"Or not."  
  
"DAMNIT!" The other boy reached down and pulled up his pants leg to reveal a knife strapped to his leg, just below the knee. Sliding it out silently, he slapped the dull side of the blade into the palm of his hand."Everyone get out of here."  
  
"I will not stand for violence in this building, young man! Why, for carrying a concealed weapon like that, you could easily get six months behind bars!" The librarian reached for the phone and started to dial. "I will NOT stand for such things."  
  
Chain shrugged and grabbed the woman around the waist, hoisting her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "Alright. Don't stand." He carried her out of the room.  
  
The people who had, moments before, been completely engrossed in their novels, were staring at the remaining boy in fear.   
  
"It's alright." He walked over and kicked in a door at the back of the room. "Duck down in there. There's a tunnel that leads out to the streets. Go right home and don't look back." He barked orders to the stunned crowd. When they didn't immediately reply, he added, "Move!"  
  
"Who are you?" A woman asked as she started down the stairs.   
  
"Not important. Just a friend." He smiled comfortingly and closed the door behind the last person.  
  
"Gunn. Wonderin' if you and yer... what is the word yer usin' these days, 'posse'?.. would show." A voice cackled from beyond the library threshold.  
  
"Gonna just stand there an' make remarks all night long, Ty?" Gunn tightened his grip on the knife handle. "You should come in! Oh, wait. You really can't do that, can you?"  
  
The vampire chuckled. "Guess you've been doin' your book learnin', huh? Well, sorry Einstein. Brownie points for knowin' about the invite thing, but--" Ty stepped across the threshold and bowed with a flourish. "-- this is a PUBLIC buildin'."  
  
"Oh man." Chain's knuckles turned white from his choke-hold on the handle of the crossbow he had brought with him.  
  
"Damn, Chain! I wanted you out with the others!" Gunn bellowed. "You're just gonna get in the way!" Gunn had other reasons for sending everyone else away, but he wasn't about to tell Chain. Especially not infront of the bloodsuck that had killed his best friend.  
  
Ty blocked Chain's exit out the door by tossing a large bookend statue of Beethoven after him. Smashing against the arch of the doorway, Plaster of Paris rained down on Chain in large chunks. "Leavin' so soon?" Ty next punched a hole in the wall by his head and yanked out a fistfull of wiring. The main lights went out, the room plunged into darkness.   
  
Gunn's heart jumped into his throat. He had to find a light source and fast. Vampires, unlike average-built fifteen year olds, could see quite clearly in the pitch black. He groped around with his hands, brushing against bookshelves, tables, desks, lamps... but never finding something to be used as an adaquet light source. He couldn't call out to Chain either, for fear of giving away his position to his undead foe. Too bad I didn't listen ta Ms. Brownin' when she said ta eat those carrots. He mused with a small degree of ironic humor. Of course, if eatin' carrots is all ya need ta see well in the dark, rabbits must practically 'ave X-Ray vision----  
  
"I wouldn't want you ta leave without a goodbye kiss." Ty took his opening and reached through the inky black, wrapping one large hand around Gunn's throat, the other digging icy fingers into Gunn's left shoulder. The boy struggled, but to no avail. The vampire's vice-like grip was unbreakable. "Will ya stop with that squirmin', already? Ya know yer not goin' anywhere."   
  
Alonna. The thought hit him before any others for his own safety. What'll happen ta 'er if this psychopath kills me? Or worse.. what if he turns me inta one a'em? Makes me like Bullseye...  
  
"Mmmm. Delicious." Ty ran his tongue teasingly along Gunn's cheek. "The fear on you, kid... it's like vodka. So cold, so intoxicatin'."  
  
Revulsion joined together with fear as the demon's slippery tongue migrated down towards Gunn's neck. He knew he should reach up and knock the fiend upside the head with his fist, but the strength had flown away from his arms, along with his circulation. He dangled helplessly above the ground, trying to prepare himself for the inevitable. Prehaps if he died quickly, Ty wouldn't have a chance to turn him...  
  
The light from a bank of computer monitors suddenly bathed the room in an eerie, white glow. Out of the corner of his eye, Gunn saw Chain sitting next to the master switch for the row of Compaq IBM PC's. The Vampire roared, caught offguard by the sudden burst of illumination. Gunn took the opening, bringing a knee up, and driving it home, deep into Ty's diaphragm. Being dead for as long as he was, Ty didn't need to take in breath, but such a sudden shot to the midsection was quite painful.  
  
"God bless Bill Gates." Gunn took in a sharp breath as he was dropped and rolled free.  
  
Chain grabbed up a desk chair and cracked it against the wall, wood splintering in a thousand directions. "Gunn!" He tossed one of the legs, splintered into a fine point, which Gunn caught in midair and rotated in his hand, all in one motion, so that it was facing Ty.  
  
"Lucky. Again." Ty looked almost bored.   
  
"Luck 'ad nothin' to do with it." Gunn replied, relieved to find the balance of power had shifted in his favor. "Remember who has the stake, bloodsuck."  
  
"It was never your day to die anyway--- Remember what I said, kid. You'll die alone. No one'll be around ta save ya. No tagalong buddy with a computer master switch and pieces of a wooden chair."  
  
"Easy enough. I'll just never get caught alone."  
  
"Oh you will." Ty appeared to melt away into the shadows until only his voice remained to evidence his presence. "You'll die alone."  



	3. No More Fantasy Tales

* * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Alonna sat next to Chain, holding a bag of ice on the boy's bruised forearm. He cringed as she applied it to a new spot on his bicep, and she recoiled in fear. "I didn't hurt ya, did I?"  
  
"Naw..." Chain tried his best to give her a big smile. "You're a big help, 'Lonna. Ya could never hurt anyone."  
  
She was hesitant, but set the ice back on his arm after a moment. "Good." They sat in silence. No one had told the young girl exactly what had happened. Just that her brother and his friends had gotten hurt and any help she could give them would be appreciated. "You seen Gunn?"  
  
"Up on the roof." One of the older boys called from his guard post at the door.   
  
Chain indicated that he would be alright, so she headed up for the roof, taking the rusty metal stairs two at a time. Arriving on the roof, she glanced around until she finally spotted him crouched near the ledge. "Hey Big Brother."  
  
Gunn didn't answer, continuing to stare out blankly over LA.  
  
"I'm gettin' ready for bed. Wanna tell me a story?"  
  
No answer.  
  
"Gunn?" She was genuinly concerned now. "What's wrong?"  
  
You'll die alone... "Nothin'. Just go to bed, 'Lonna. I'm busy."  
  
"But we was gonna have another story tonight, right?"  
  
Gunn shook his head. "No more stories. Time to grow up."  
  
Alonna stood still in shock. Whatever had happened today was far worse than she had ever imagined. Quietly, she turned and headed back down the stairs, a single tear coursing down her cheek.  
  
"I'm sorry." Gunn said to the silence around him. "But I can't promise ta always protect ya anymore.... not with Ty out there. Even I can't stop 'im. This is two times now. Next time it might be you, Sis." He hung his head. It was the first time in Charles Gunn's life that he had ever felt completely helpless. 


End file.
